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Grammar is to Meaning asthe Law is to Good Behaviour
Adam Kilgarriff
Lexical Computing LtdLexicography MasterClass Ltd
Universities of Leeds and Sussex
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What is grammar?
We don't need it
fire fire run quick
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Chomsky
Linguistics
Distinguish grammatical from ungrammatical
He goes to the park
*He goes the park
Starred (non-)sentences
Competence not performance
Dominant since 1960s
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Enter the Corpus
Sample of language
Newspapers
Books
Internet
Transcripts (of conversations, lectures, meetings..)
Big
Lots of texts
On computer
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Rationalists and Empriricists
Descartes, Leibniz
Theory
Competence Rules
Chomsky
Locke, Hume
Data
Performance Statistics
...Sampson
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Sampson
Grammar without grammaticality
Empiricist
What is found in corpora
Some things common, others less so, or absent
the concept of 'ungrammatical' or 'ill-formed' is a
delusion, based on a false conception of the kind of
thing a human language is
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Many cases
Grammatical ?????
Native speakers
No problem, communicates clearly
Linguist
Infringes a rule
Sampson no strangers, only friends I haven't met yet
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Journal: Corpus Linguistics and
Linguistic Theory
Special Issue
Sampson and responses Sampson: mostly stronger case but
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*He goes the park.
*He goes to park the.
*He go to the park.
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Sampson
No convincing answer
A response
Grammaticality is a partial function
Sentences like these
Is it grammatical is a question with an answer
Others
It isn't
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How useless!
Great big question in linguistics
Partial function: non-answer
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An analogy
Grammar :: meaning
Law :: good behaviour
Meaning/communication, good behaviour
Good for society
Grammar/law Systems of rules for promoting
Not a necessary condition, but they help
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Round the campfire
Fred has taken Freda's stone axe
Acceptable behaviour?
Long and heated discussion...
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Next time
Frieda has taken Bert's stone axe
Oh no ... discussion takes too long, we'll starve
Rules
Define 'theft', 'property', borrowing' ...
Speeds up decis ion making
Reduces social burden
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Lion!
Ambiguous
Past tense
we may be able to steal the kill
Present tense
Run!
Grammar (verb + tense)
Speeds up processing
Reduces cogn i t ive burden
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System of rules
Language:
Grammar
Society
Law
Simple cases: process very fast
Complex cases Rules don't help much
Discussion/analysis still needed
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System of rules
Develops a life of its own
Medieval Irish grammar
Loopholes, laws to fill them, new loopholes ...
Pressure to rationalise
Invading armies
immigration
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Where the analogy ends
Law
Money
Prison
So we pay lawyers
Language
Failed communication
Repair and fix
:-(
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Summary
Grammar is to meaning as the law is to good
behaviour
Systems of rules for handling common cases
efficiently
Complex cases
Law: pay a lawyer
Language
There isn't an answer: ungrammaticalityirrelevant
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